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Wednesday, July 19, 2017

The issue of enforced disappearances has impacted Sri Lankan’s across
the ethnic divide for decades. The use of enforced disappearances during
the “youth insurrections” of the 1970’s and 80’s and during the
protracted armed conflict by both state and non-state actors is well
documented. Despite several commissions of inquiry appointed by
successive governments to investigate these incidents, the fate of
thousands remains unknown. Several such commissions of inquiry have
recommended legal reforms to address the issue of enforced or
involuntary disappearances and to eliminate this phenomenon in the
future. An overwhelming majority of these detailed recommendations
remained unimplemented for decades. “….In order to address this issue
comprehensively and to eliminate this phenomenon in the future as well
as to fill an existing lacuna, the Commission strongly recommends that
domestic legislation be framed to specifically criminalize enforced or
involuntary disappearances.”- Report of the Commission OF Inquiry On
Lessons Learnt And Reconciliation, 2011, 5.46

Sri Lanka signed the International Convention for the Protection of All
Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) in December 2015 and
ratified it in May 2016. In order to give legal validity to the ICPPED
in Sri Lanka, the Government of Sri Lanka introduced the International
Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
Bill (Bill) which was gazetted on the 09th of February 2017 and
subsequently tabled in Parliament.

CPA produces this basic guide to raise awareness on the proposed
legislation. The next phase of the law-making process entails that the
Bill is open to amendment at the committee stage debate. This basic
guide is meant to inform those involved in the process and other
stakeholders as to what is presently proposed. Subsequent to enactment,
CPA will update this guide to ensure that stakeholders are aware of the
new legislation.